Consumer: Money Talk with Helen Collier

You are not alone if you have said this a few times in your life. Part of the problem can be getting an urge to buy something that you hadn’t planned for but that suddenly became so attractive it couldn’t be resisted. Familiar?

It is not surprising. You are bombarded with messages daily telling you what to spend your money on. Some of them scream at us offering great deals like ‘THIS WEEK ONLY - enormous flat screen TV ONLY £200’. It’s a bargain - but only if you were out looking for a enormous TV. If you’d gone out to get the weekly food shop, that’s a different matter.

Money can slip through your fingers on things you don’t even notice. A cup of coffee grabbed every day as you rush across the station concourse, starting as an impulse buy one morning and then moving to become a regular habit every day. That £2 habit becomes £40 a month.

I’m not a skinflint wanting to deny you all your pleasures. I do know that our purses aren’t bottomless pits and that most people when asked would say they wanted to spend on things that are important to them. That’s why throughout September I’m to going to show you how to spend consciously on things that really matter and make a difference to your life. We’ll begin next week with ‘Knowing your Values’.

Leeds-based Helen Collier is one of only two coaches in the UK trained with the Money Coaching Institute in California. She helps people who are often embarrassed and ashamed about how they’ve handled money to create a financial life they can be proud of. www.harmoneylife.co.uk